Olyphant was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in California. He was a U.S. National Finalist in the 200 Individual Medley and swam competitively at the University of Southern California in L.A., where he studied fine art and theater. After graduating, Olyphant moved to New York City, where he was acquainted with actress Jennifer Garner, and attended William Esper's acting program. Olyphant has been married to Alexis Knief since 1991 and has three children.

Olyphant began acting in plays, and received the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance for playing Tim Hapgood in "The Monogamist". Olyphant subsequently appeared in "SantaLand Diaries" and "Plunge" on stage, and made his film debut with the 1996 film The First Wives Club. He followed the role up with parts in the films Scream 2 (1997), Go (1999), The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000) and Gone In Sixty Seconds (2000). During this time, Olyphant also guest starred in an episode of Sex and the City.

Since March 2004, Olyphant has played the lead role of sheriff Seth Bullock on HBO's Deadwood. Olyphant considered it to be one of his first leading roles as a "complicated" and "complex" character. More recently, he has had more prominent roles in Rock Star (2001) and the 2003 adaptation of Stephen King's novel, Dreamcatcher. He also played pornography movie producer Kelly, alongside Emile Hirsch and Elisha Cuthbert, in The Girl Next Door (2004). And will be making a new film in (2009) called "Why Marlene Loves Ricardo".

Olyphant's latest film role is in the comedy Catch and Release, playing the love interest of Jennifer Garner's character; Olyphant was cast in the role over several other known actors, including Matthew Fox. The film opened in January of 2007. He will also appear in Live Free or Die Hard, as the villain, a cyber-terrorist; Stop-Loss, about the Iraq War, playing a Lieutenant Colonel; Bill, a comedy co-starring Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba; and as Agent 47 in Hitman, based on the popular video game franchise. Filming on Hitman is scheduled to begin in March of 2007, in Europe.

Olyphant serves as the sports reporter for Joe Escalante's morning show on LA radio station Indie 103.1, every Monday through Friday.

Year

Title

Role

Notes

The First Wives Club

Brett Artounian

A Life Less Ordinary

Hiker

Scream 2

Mickey Altieri

Hooks

No Vacancy

Luke

Go

Todd Gaines

Advice from a Caterpillar

Brat

Gone in Sixty Seconds

Det. Drycoff

The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy

Dennis

Head Over Heels

Michael

Auggie Rose

Roy Mason

Rock Star

Rob Malcolm - Guitarist, Blood Pollution

Doppelganger

Brian

Coastlines

Sonny Mann

The Safety of Objects

Randy

Dreamcatcher

Pete Moore

A Man Apart

Hollywood Jack

The Girl Next Door

Kelly

Catch and Release

Fritz

Live Free or Die Hard

Thomas Gabriel

Bill

Chip

post-production

Stop-Loss

Lt. Col. Boot Miller

post-production

Hitman

Agent 47

filming